{"id":4631,"date":"2016-08-31T02:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=4631"},"modified":"2016-08-29T12:00:10","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T16:00:10","slug":"fifth-anniversary-highlights-transformative-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/08\/fifth-anniversary-highlights-transformative-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Transformative Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4603 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg\" alt=\"FiveCandles\" width=\"500\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles-300x131.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>During the month of August, Engaging Matters is republishing some of the most widely read articles from the five years this blog has been in existence. In a post from last December (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\">Transformative Engagement<\/a>), I introduced a new stage in my thinking about engagement. Engagement is a funny word. Among other things, we have to consider who is engaging with whom toward what end. Ultimately, though, if the work does not lead to <em>some<\/em> change in the organization, the &#8220;engagement&#8221; is self-focused and almost certainly ineffective.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/09\/artcentric-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\">Artcentric Engagement<\/a> I discussed a kind of engagement in which an arts organization is attempting to bring people to it. As I said there, nothing is wrong with that; it\u2019s simply not the goal toward which I and many others in the arts who are deeply committed to community engagement are working. Upon a very little reflection, it becomes clear that the engagement about which I write and speak is intended to change the organization or at least some of what it does or thinks. And so, I\u2019m beginning to experiment with the concept of \u201ctransformative engagement\u201d as the descriptor of this type of relationship building.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;\">The root of such engagement is community learning. By that I mean learning about the needs, interests, even personality of the community the arts organization is attempting to engage. Applying that understanding to the work of an arts organization will at a minimum allow different kinds of thoughts about artistic content and new ways of imagining organizational functions. For example, if sales, fundraising, and engagement are all based on building relationships, maybe they could work together more or we might re-think some of what we do. If sales needs to be more closely tied to relationship formation and maintenance, how might that change the sales process? (One possibility would be not to leave it solely in the hands of some of the lowest-paid staff members\u2013box office employees. Train them better, pay them better?)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>If an organization is not <em>doing<\/em> anything differently as a result of its engagement efforts, it\u2019s not focused on the community. It\u2019s focused on itself.<\/strong> And <strong>it is only transformative engagement that builds an arts organization\u2019s relevance<\/strong>. And without relevance, indispensability is a pipe dream.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;\">Engage!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;\">Doug<\/p>\n<p>Photo:<span class=\"ccIcn ccIcnSmall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/2.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Attribution\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" alt=\"Attribution\" border=\"0\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"No Derivative Works\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_noderivs_small.gif\" alt=\"No Derivative Works\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span> <a title=\"Attribution-NoDerivs License\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gazeronly\/\" target=\"_blank\">torbakhopper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If an organization is not doing anything differently as a result of its engagement efforts, it\u2019s not focused on the community. It\u2019s focused on itself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Transformative Engagement\u2013change is inevitable if engagement is genuine and effective.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13,31,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-4631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-mainstreaming","11":"tag-relationships","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1cH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":0},"title":"Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Transformative Engagement\u2013Community engagement (built on community learning) that influences the organization's programming and\/or ways of doing business. Only transformative engagement builds an organization's relevance.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Caterpillar-Butterfyl-e1443036832677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4945,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/engagement-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":1},"title":"Engagement Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We need good definitions to make our work more effective. Here is an updated set from my perspective, for what it's worth.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Practice of Engagement&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6447,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/employee-engagement-as-a-strategy-for-community-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":2},"title":"Employee Engagement as a Strategy for Community Engagement","author":"Guest Blogger","date":"September 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Guest blogger Kathleen Riemenschneider on the relationship between employee engagement and community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Guest Post&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Guest Post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/guest-post\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6442,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/terminology-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":3},"title":"Differentiation","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Differentiating between seemingly related terms is important to understanding them. This post looks at outreach and education in relationship to community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;10th Anniversary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"10th Anniversary","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/10th-anniversary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4602,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/08\/five-years-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":4},"title":"Five Years On","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Five Years On\u2013Highlights from five years of blogging. This week: definitions.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"FiveCandles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4272,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/09\/artcentric-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4631,"position":5},"title":"Artcentric Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In artcentric engagement the community engages with the arts. In transformative engagement, the arts engage with the community.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"EngagementRing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EngagementRing-e1429555281389.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4631"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4634,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions\/4634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}